A beginning.....

As I write, I am aware that I have still been thinking often of our recent time together.  I am so thankful for each of you, our family and co-adventurers on this journey we have been gifted to enjoy.  I will seek, Lord willing, to post after we spend time together and recount some of the things we discussed.  I'll make it an invitation only Blog, so you are safe to respond here.  Thank you Susan for your willingness to tell your story, I think we all rejoiced in the place God has brought you to and echoed in our own hearts many of the same thoughts and issues.  Our needs are not too dissimilar.

• We are family, therefore this will be a safe and protected time.
• God's presence will be seen in our weaknesses, therefore we need to be willing to be completely honest.  We all know the truth of what's going on most of the time inside us isn't pretty.

We are not getting together just to enjoy each other, just as we do not desire to "cruise" through life as comfortably as possibly.  We are here, in this life, for a reason.  We do truly want the fullness, the fruit, the results of the Gospel message to be produced in us.  For us, to live is Christ.  Can we really experience that?    God desires to restore us, which is why he reached us.....all of which must happen before he can use us to reproduce his life in others.

We need to stop doing religious activity.  Let me say that again, we need to STOP doing religious stuff.  This is polar opposite to what it means to actually making disciples.  The key to not getting burned out is to just let yourself be God's person, whole and not divided.  We don't want "compartmentalization", as Susan told us.  We must leave aside "church activities" , we don't want to "do ministry", "have devotions" or let "serving" mean something we're doing for the church.  If we have to "wedge" in these activities, we will become burdened and heavy laden.  Is your yoke easy?

We seek in our times together to explore 2 primary ideas:  Gospel Identity (who are we as God sees us?) and Gospel Fluency (Seeing, speaking, and practicing the truths made evident by the Gospel into every aspect of our lives).  Our behavior is connected to our beliefs!  Our motivation for doing what we do is worth taking a close look at, as our doing comes from our being.

Ultimately, we desire to ask ourselves if every part of our life has been affected by the Gospel.

Blessings until next time.

Tim